Etymology

genipap

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Today it means: The North and South American tree Genipa americana of the family Rubiaceae. Full definition →

Brazilian Portuguese jenipapo ← Old Tupi îanypaba
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The story

  1. Old Tupi · derived fromîanypaba
  2. Brazilian Portuguese · borrowed fromjenipapo
  3. English todaygenipap

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese jenipapo, from Old Tupi îanypaba. The Tupi meaning of the word is variously given as yandi-pawa or yandi-pab (“fruit for painting”), yandi-ibá-pab (“fruit of the extremities for painting”), and without citation or explanation, “breast of an old woman”.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.